This invention relates to toothbrushes. More particularly, this invention relates to contour adaptive toothbrushes.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,121,520 and 5,499,421 issued to the present inventor, Michael Brice, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, to effectively clean teeth and gum areas complex maneuvering of a toothbrush is necessary. It is generally acknowledged that the great majority of individuals brush their teeth and gum surfaces primarily in a horizontal and semi-circular manner, even though this particular technique is not deemed to be the best way of cleaning the teeth and gum surfaces. There are two reasons why most individuals resort to this ineffective technique. First, conventional brushing heads are not particularly designed to follow the contours of the teeth and gum surfaces, and as an extension of the human arm do not permit complicated and exact maneuvers to be performed. Second, most brushing takes place in the early morning when one first arises and in the evening just prior to retiring. This is a factor, as demanding complicated procedures for this time of day and night are beyond the tolerance of most individuals. For these reasons, most individuals resort to a simple natural horizontal or semi-circular conventional brushing technique.
Numerous attempts have been made in the past as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 860,840 to Strassburger, U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,549 to Scopp et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,67,360 to Marthaler et al. to improve the design of the toothbrush such as the bristles and/or the head. U.S. Pat. No. 860,840 to Strassburger discloses a toothbrush having two rows of bristles sloped in opposite directions relative to each other, and a central section of bristles arranged parallel to and located between the two outside rows. However, these prior toothbrushes do not simultaneously and/or independently accommodate different contours of the teeth.
In other patents, adjacent head portions of a toothbrush are made to pivot or flex relative to the handle portion so that the bristles are better able to conform to the contours of the teeth and gum surfaces. Such an arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 928,328 to Carpentier, U.S. Pat. No. 2,266,195 to Hallock, U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,349 to Brennesholtz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,199 to Del Rosario, U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,328 to Hyman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,405 to Reed, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,054 to Rauch. More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,199 to Del Rosario and U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,328 to Hyman disclose a toothbrush having a single discreet brushing head that can be pivoted about the handle. The Del Rosario patent, in addition, discloses a brushing head that can rotate about three planes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,928,328 to Carpentier, U.S. Pat. No. 2,266,195 to Hallock, U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,349 to Brennesholtz and U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,405 to Reed show a toothbrush head capable of flexing or articulating relative to the handle. Specifically, the brushing head comprises a plurality of serially arranged flexing head segments, wherein the segments flex in union or relative to each other.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,054 to Rauch discloses a toothbrush head having three arranged brushing segments, whereby the central segment is aligned with the handle and the two segments on either side are symmetrically arranged relative to the central segment. The bristles on the outer sides of the Rauch patent have narrow, blade-like, contact points which are likely to induce excessive pressure to the gum due to the narrow contact points. In other words, the narrow blade-like bristles inherently place higher excessive concentrated pressure on the gum more so than bristles with a larger contact area.
None of these toothbrushes are directed to overcoming ineffective brushing techniques, or the individual's anatomically limited abilities to effectively clean the curvilinear surfaces of the teeth and provide for gentle stimulation of the varying gum tissues without harm or discomfort for the user, for example, by utilizing side-by-side arranged brushing heads.
In addition, none of these toothbrushes provide for the discreet functioning of one or more brushing heads as separate elements by addressing the force exerted by the user (hereinafter “the X Value”), the resistance/resiliency characteristics of the molecular density of the material used in conjunction with the structural dimensions of the toothbrush (hereinafter “the Y Value”), in concert with the resistance/resiliency of the bristle body as separate functioning elements of the uniform bristle body mass (hereinafter “the Z Value”), as well as the lateral resistance characteristics of the one or more necks (hereinafter “the L Value”).
Moreover, none of these toothbrushes enables the varying of the brushing pressure, in accordance with the proclivity of the user, in order to prevent excessive pressure from being applied to the gums and/or gingival tissue or from injury to the tooth enamel.